From a pop culture point of view, our perspective on heroes
and bravery tends to be skewed toward the superficial. The news media fall all
over themselves to celebrate the “heroism” of, for example, a superstar athlete
who overcomes adversity or a Hollywood actress who
comes out as gay; those names and faces are splashed across the news and they
are lauded even by the President. Meanwhile, those in our own military whom we
honor for sacrificing life and limb in service to others – the truest
definition of heroism – remain largely unrecognized by the public. Since
FrontPage is an outlet of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and our soldiers are in no small measure
responsible for that freedom, it seems appropriate to bring some attention here
to a few real heroes who recently made the news.
It was announced Monday that the Medal of Honor will be bestowed
upon former Staff Sergeant Ryan Pitts, 28, for his actions July 13, 2008 in the
fierce battle of Wanat in Afghanistan. As the Army Times reports,
just before sunrise, a volley of rocket-propelled grenades pounded his Observation
Post [OP]. For 90 minutes, Pitts and his fellow paratroopers fought off more
than 200 enemy fighters. His actions were described as “decisive” by the battalion
commander at the time: “He prevented the enemy from overrunning the OP and thus
saved lives and prevented the loss or capture of fallen and wounded
paratroopers.”
“Even though he damn near got himself killed, he managed to
keep his composure and keep fighting and do what he was supposed to do,” the commander
said. “His weapon would go down and he’d get another one and continue to fight.
He was throwing grenades at [the enemy] and throwing rocks at them to get them
to jump out from behind cover.”
With a proper hero’s humility, Pitts takes no credit himself
but honored his brothers-in-arms: “Valor was everywhere,” he said. “Everybody
just did what they needed to do, and a lot of it was because of the
relationships we had. We were very close.” He views the medal as a memorial to
the nine soldiers who gave their lives at Wanat that day: “I try to think about
the guys we lost and try to do my best to honor them and the gift they gave me.
I hate the word ‘hero.’ But I feel very fortunate when I look at the guys I
served with. They’re my heroes. It was the honor of my lifetime to serve with
them.”
From that same battalion, former Sgt. Kyle White received
the Medal of Honor last month for his bravery in November, 2007. Caught in an
ambush in Afghanistan, says
the Army Times, White repeatedly ran
a “gauntlet of enemy fire to get to the wounded and fallen.” When the shooting
stopped and night fell, White, only 20 at the time, tended to a wounded comrade,
called in radio reports, directed security and guided in air support until the
wounded and dead were evacuated. “I do not consider myself a hero,” he said prior
to his White House ceremony, echoing the words of Sgt. Pitts. “To me, the real
heroes are the ones I fought with that day.”
The late Sgt. Alwyn Cashe was awarded the Silver Star, the
third-highest award for valor, in recognition for his heroic actions
in Samarra, Iraq on Oct. 17, 2005, when his vehicle hit an IED. The wounded Cashe,
his uniform burned away except for boots, body armor and helmet, crawled back
into the wreckage again and again, pulling out all six of his comrades. All were
evacuated back to the U.S. alive, although three later succumbed to their
wounds – as did Cashe, from 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns
over more than 70 percent of his body. He didn’t receive the Medal of Honor because
the full details of his actions were unclear at the time, but there is a
movement underway to upgrade him to that award. “I know not a lot of us
survived,” said one survivor, “but maybe none of us would have survived if not
for him.”
Countless other American warriors may be less decorated but
nonetheless continue to give above and beyond the call of duty. Some don’t come
home alive, like Staff Sgt. David Stewart, 34, Lance Cpl. Brandon Garabrandt,
19, and Lance Cpl. Adam Wolff, 25, three Marines who died
last Friday in combat operations in Afghanistan. The ones who come home wounded
tend to soldier on, if you’ll pardon the pun, without complaint, which makes
the recent revelations
of Veterans Administration neglect of wounded vets that much more shameful and
unconscionable.
Occasionally our entertainment media throw a deserved spotlight
on our military, such as with the outstanding movie Lone Survivor, based on Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s harrowing book
of the same name, or the Super Bowl commercial from
Budweiser this year which celebrated a soldier’s return home.
But more often than not we’re treated to displays in the culture
like these: egomaniac rapper Kanye
West has the nerve to compare his stage performances to the risks of
military service; tone-deaf celebrity Gwyneth
Paltrow calls internet attacks on her the “bloody, dehumanizing” equivalent
of war; and earlier this year in a segment called “Heroes and Zeroes” on his
titular show, MSNBC lightweight Ronan Farrow praised
Lena Dunham, creator of HBO’s disgusting Girls,
for her heroic nudity. You can’t degrade the meaning and significance of
heroism much further than that.
In a perfect world, men like the ones I noted above would be
household names like – or better yet, instead of – Kanye West or Gwyneth
Paltrow. Not that our heroes would ever be comfortable with such recognition,
because selfless service is part and parcel of a hero’s character. The least we
can do is stop applying the word “hero” casually and reserve it for those who
have earned it, sometimes with their lives.
(This article originally appeared here on FrontPage Mag, 6/27/14)
